"Some family patterns run so deep that we mistake them for who we are."

Threads That Connect Us is a memoir that blends vibrant childhood memories with the perspective of a psychotherapist, exploring the deeply human search for meaning, resilience, and healing. Written by retired family therapist Lynn Hoover, the book delves into what it means to grow up in families shaped by stifling silence, explosive volatility, or emotional neglect—and how grace and resilience can transform even the most painful beginnings.

Drawing from both personal experience and decades of practice, Hoover provides fresh insights into narcissism, alcoholism, abuse, grief, and resilience, while also considering the challenges of being a highly sensitive person (HSP) in a world that often lacks nuance. She validates the powerful emotions stirred within families while helping readers see

difficult dynamics with new clarity. Alongside psychological reflection, she also shares moments of spiritual questioning and growth, written with the quiet grace of one who has truly searched.

Rather than a prescriptive guide, this book is a companion for anyone struggling with narcissistic family patterns, generational trauma, or the lingering wounds of childhood. At its heart, it is about reclaiming your story: grieving what was lost, recognizing your worth, and shaping a future that feels authentically your own. Whether you are an adult child of dysfunction or simply someone seeking deeper understanding, these pages offer compassion, perspective, and hope.

A Glimpse Inside

The chapters of Threads That Connect Us are arranged in five parts, each tracing a step in the journey from roots to renewal. Here is the full Table of Contents to give you a sense of the stories, themes, and insights you’ll encounter along the way.

Author’s Notes
Threads That Connect Us

Roots and Reverberations

Section I. Tracing the Echoes

Early Echoes
Listening for What Isn't Said
Losing the Light
A Father’s Shadow
Inheritance

Resilience and Rescue

Section II. Finding Our Footing
6. Safe Harbor
7. Golden Horses and the Weight of Responsibility
8. The Great Escape
9. Scruffy and the Golden Fire
10. The Day the World Shifted
11. Judgment and the Mirror of Morality
12. The Rhythm of a Generation
13. Cast Out: Wounded But Not Broken
14. The Inheritance We Didn’t Ask For

15. Finding Footing in an Upside-Down World
16. An Envelope of Grace
17. The Choice to Grow
18. Becoming Lynn
19. The Sensitivity That Shaped Me
20. Skidding Toward Grace

Reflection and Integration

Section III. Gathering the Pieces
21. Falling in Step, Falling in Love
22. Parenthood and the Patterns We Inherit
23. Holding On Without Getting Pulled In
24. Your Own Kind of Family
25. The Gift of Freedom in Marriage
26. Moments That Mattered Most
27. Beyond the Boxes
28. Equal but Different

29. When Families Define Us
30. Breaking the Narcissism Trap
31. A Woman’s Place is Her Own
32. The Grief We’re Supposed to Feel
33. The Music That Carried Me

Faith and Meaning

Section IV. Deepening the Journey
34. A Spacious Faith
35. Faith Interrupted

36. Known and Loved
37. The Qualities I Admire Most
38. Where the Wild Things Roam
39. Superpowers
40. The Gift of Lightness
41. Grace in Practice

Threading Forward

Section V. Threads for Tomorrow
42. Staying Current
43. Safeguarding Freedom
44. Becoming Whole
45. Weaving Regret Into Wisdom
46. Gratitude
47. How I Hope to Be Remembered

FINAL THREAD

Author's Note to Future Generations

Meet Lynn
Acknowledgements

An Invitation Forward

Each chapter is a thread in a larger tapestry—one that weaves memory, reflection, and hope into a story of resilience. I invite you to step into these pages, find the echoes that speak to your own life, and consider how the threads that connect us can also help us emerge triumphant.

Lynn's Story

Lynn Hoover, MSW, LCSW (Ret.), is a retired family therapist and former Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). After decades of work helping individuals and families untangle complex emotional patterns, she turned her attention to writing about the lifelong process of healing and connection. In Threads That Connect Us: A Family Therapist’s Memoir of Resilience, Healing, and Generational Grace, she blends memory, insight, and earned wisdom to illuminate how family systems, personality, and sensitivity shape who we become. Through vivid storytelling and reflective honesty, she invites readers to grieve what never was, to honor their own sensitivity, and to build lives rooted in clarity, compassion, and resilience.

Surrounded by her husband and family, she finds daily joy in nature, creativity, and meaningful connection.